Reviews

A modern re-telling of Cinderella in some aspects this rom-com can be quite frustrating to watch...The main plot of the film is a new handsome doc meets a charming nurse while stuck in an elevator with her but before he could get her name they separate but wait....as luck would have it he starts working in the same hospital as the nurse.

Case closed...movie over, right? WRONG

He oddly enough cannot recognize the nurse he spent over 90mins with stuck in an elevator playing shrimp beer pong...

Fine...I'd buy it if they didn't spend what seems like long hours working along side each other at work and while not at work he's running around trying to find her name thru the lady working the ticket booth at the event center to tracking down the caterer who was also stuck in the elevator... It's just hard to believe that if you were that smitten by someone after a pretty significant event like getting stuck in close quarters and then working alongside each other every day...you'd think something would click...right? Her VOICE MAYBE?

Yea I do too And for that reason I can't give this more than a 5/10

The rest of the film has all the other charming qualities you come to expect from a romantic movie.

The leads are solid ...no surprise.

I recommend it but it can be a frustrating watch.

I have a very high threshold for Christmas/Holiday films during the season... Bad, terrible, good...it varies from what outlet is putting them out. Obviously Hallmark and Lifetime are the gold standard...streaming giants like Netflix are given them a slight run.

But then you get the low budget fare that end up on Amazon Prime, Up Faith & Fam or Pixl streaming channels.

"Ivy and Mistletoe" is definitely the low budget Christmas film that will find a home on those latter platforms.

Ivy & Mistletoe is a basic plot...Daughter trying to get home to her family for Christmas but an incoming blizzard derails her plans. Shes attempts to make a 6 hour drive but that doesn't go quite as planned and she gets stuck in a town where she meet a grumpy and obnoxious tow truck driver.

The plot isn't the problem...if you enjoy the Christmas movie genre, the plot of a Christmas movie is usually the same 4-5 stories anyway..

The problem with this film is the acting. It's terrible. Just plain bad.

Julianne Michelle isn't terrible, sure she has her low points but she tries to play the starry eyed Christmas lover like so many before her but the guy who plays "Max" (Cody Calafiore) who is and I quote the "Handsome tow truck driver"

He plays his character like an overgrown child...not the typical knight in shining armor that most of these films have their male leads play.

Max whines and moans throughout the film. He's rude and mean whenever he isn't whining and moaning. It's just hard to get past. For example he insists on calling her "princess"...she asks him to stop. He then proceeds to call her princess throughout the film...literally up until nearly the end of the film. Couple that with a plot that doesn't really go anywhere and the fact that the movie doesn't show you anything other than the same 4 actors for most of the movie, you almost feel like you are the one stranded.

Pass this on your Christmas viewing list. You'll have plenty others to keep you busy.